OUT & ABOUT
Opening our eyes
Yet despite his extraordinary achievements in the face of adversity, his name has been somewhat eclipsed in his hometown’s history books. Following a relentless 17-year project in which he’s quit his job twice to pursue it, former headteacher, Andy Platt, is proud to rightfully reinstate Saunderson into the limelight and expose his inspirational story with a professional musical production called No Horizon.
No Horizon chronicles the life and workings of Saunderson who went on to hold one of the most prestigious academic posts in the world, the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, for 28 years in spite of losing not only his eyesight but also his eyes to smallpox as an infant.
Saunderson sits amongst some of the finest mathematics brains of all-time including Isaac Newton, Charles Babbage and Stephen Hawking who have also held the same chair. Yet Saunderson’s status doesn’t seem to have derived the same degree of recognition than that of his peers – until now. From Thursday 19th March until Wednesday 15th April, No Horizon will embark on its debut professional tour of some of Yorkshire’s finest theatres thanks to funding from the Arts Council and the Foyle Foundation.
“When I started this project almost 20 years ago, few knew about Saunderson which was shocking to me. One of my main aims is that the people of Barnsley take ownership of this
‘‘In an age before braille, a young Nicholas is said to have taught himself to read by tracing the letters on gravestones at St John the Baptist Church in Penistone’’
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aroundtownmagazine.co.uk
Adam Martyn as Nicholas Saunderson to Barnsley’s forgotten genius
He may have lived almost all of his life in complete darkness, but the legacy of Barnsley-born blind genius, Nicholas Saunderson, has shone brightly throughout the history of mathematics for almost 300 years.
‘‘Over the next 20 years, he would become the fourth Lucasian Professor, be elected into the Royal Society, and be made a Doctor of Law by King George II’’
remarkable man and his story,” Andy says. Saunderson was born in Thurlstone on the edge of Penistone in 1682, the son of an excise man, or tax collector. After being blinded at 12-months-old, his life should have been a mundane one filled with inequality and poverty; yet he did everything in his power to broaden his horizons and deviate from this fate. He rebelled against the lack of aspiration and opportunities for the blind. He didn’t want a humdrum life and was shaped by the perception and expectations others had of him. In an age before braille, a young Nicholas is said to have taught himself to read by tracing the letters on gravestones at St John the Baptist Church in Penistone. In his youth he devised a palpable arithmetic board to help him with his calculations; sort of like an abacus but using pegs to count.
He was fluent in French and was also taught Latin and Greek at Penistone Grammar School. After being tutored in algebra and geometry by local gentry, he went to Attercliffe Academy for a short period before deeming their teaching far below his capability. With no formal qualifications or family financial backing, at 25 he decided to leave Yorkshire for Cambridge University, not as a student but as a teacher. Saunderson was an exponent of Isaac Newton’s theories and he impressed the college so much that he was allowed to give lectures at the Newtonian School of Mathematics and Physics before being given honorary bachelor and master’s degrees.
Over the next 20 years, he would become the fourth Lucasian Professor, be elected into the Royal Society, and be made a Doctor of Law by King George II.
An incredible feat for someone with such humble beginnings, let alone someone without sight.
Andy lived in the same village where Saunderson was born but was only first introduced to his story in 2000 by a colleague at Springvale Primary School in Penistone where he was then deputy head.
“I would be doing assemblies at school about aspirations and people who had achieved great things against their own struggles, people like Helen Keller and Florence Nightingale. Yet here was a man from just a mile down the road who was the epitome of just that,” Andy says. Andy became fascinated by Saunderson’s story and, in a time before readily available internet access, went to Barnsley Archives to delve into his background.
Here, he found a thesis written about Saunderson by a Canadian maths lecturer called Jim Tattersall. In a strange twist of fate, the paper included an interview with a sculptor from Thurlstone called Jim Milner who was a direct descendant of Saunderson – and who Andy happened to have bought a house from.
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